Sure, rival Conan O'Brien allowed himself one solid wisecrack during his own show: "The Olympics start airing tonight on NBC. It's very cool. That's right: NBC has the Olympics. It's a big deal. NBC will finally get to show somebody who is okay with passing the torch."

In his 22 years hosting The Tonight Show, Jay Leno crafted a winning formula: a bit of silliness, crossed with snark, and delivered with an utter lack of pretension.

As Leno prepares to hang up his Tonight Show spurs Thursday night, let's look back on some of the highlights of his decades-long tenure, from his news-making interviews to his 4,600 jokes about Bill Clinton:

Jay Leno left NBC's The Tonight Show after 22 years Thursday night with a farewell that included old friends Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks and – the one big stunt – a large surprise ensemble of guests (Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Jack Black) singing novelty lyrics to "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music.

Jay Leno has hosted The Tonight Show for a loooooong time. So tell us, Jay, how long was it?

"Here's how long," he said Thursday. "When I started hosting, marijuana was illegal and you could smoke cigarettes anywhere you wanted."

Actually, it was 22 years since he took over for Johnny Carson at NBC's venerable late-night show from beautiful downtown Burbank, not counting seven disastrous months in 2009 when Conan O'Brien helmed the program.

Now leaving a second time to make way for a new host – Jimmy Fallon – and a new city – New York – Leno, 63, said on his final show that this time it was his decision.

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Sandra Bullock appeared on The Tonight Show Wednesday to say goodbye to Jay Leno, and couldn't help herself from tearing up a little.